~a few weeks before~
"holy shit. jackson!"his roommate tao exclaims, dropping the keys and throwing his bag onto the floor. tao runs over to jackson while his friend kris calls an ambulance.
"jackson c'mon man,"tao says, shaking him and trying to wake him up. what if he was dead? he can't be, he wouldn't leave mark like that. tao feels tears starting to form.
"jackson!"tao sobs, making kris go over and embrace him in his arms. he sobbed into his chest as doctors rush in, taking jackson out on a stretcher.
"kris-"
"ssh,"he replies, running a hand through tao's hair and trying to calm him down. telling him jackson will be okay over and over again.
"i can't let this happen to mark,"tao didn't know the boy personally. but he knew jackson cried over missing him every night. probably the only reason jackson is alive or well hopefully, is the lingering chance of seeing the love of his life again.
"come on,"kris says, leading tao out to his car. he buckles his seatbelt and they are soon on their way to the hospital with a thick silence above them.
~ currently ~
jackson gasps awake, looking around to see tao and kris. the boys rush over to jackson and make sure he's okay. tao goes to call the nurse but jackson puts up a hand, pushing himself up.
"i feel fine,"jackson says, sitting against the bed. tao nods his head and goes over to sit next to kris. tao lets out a sigh and jackson looks over. confusion filling the air.
"what?"jackson asks.
"don't hate me,"tao says, motioning his head to the door. jackson turns his head, tears spilling out his eyes as he sees the human who stands there. jackson shakes his head and lets out a sob as mark rushes into his arms.
the boys sit there, mark sobbing into jackson's chest and jackson sobbing into mark's shoulder. jackson pulls mark away and runs his hands across the boy's petit body. jackson lets out a whimper and grabs mark's face, pressing his lips to the other's.
"never leave me again,"mark says, placing his forehead on jackson's. jackson nods and kisses him again, with as much passion as he can.
———
meanwhile mark was at the store, getting some medicine that his doctor had proscribed him. mark had never shown signs of killing himself but in the end he knew this medicine would be the one to help. he missed jackson too much.
"mark?"jisung says in a soft voice. mark looks over and smiles at the young boy. they haven't really gotten a time to talk and mark noticed something on the back of the boy's shoulder.
"hey. what's wrong?"mark says, placing his things on a counter and going over to the boy. he runs his hand over the bruise, earning a wince from jisung.
"f-felix did that,"jisung studders. no way he did that. the fight they were in was a few weeks ago. a bruise that big would have been at least a little cleared up, this was recent. the boy also looked very skinny.
"jisung tell me the truth,"mark says, looking into the boy's eyes. jisung begins to tear up a bit. mark pulls him into a hug and lets the little one sob into his shoulder.
"come on. you can stay with me tonight."
———
jackson wakes up peacefully, just to see that mark was not on his chest. he probably just went to the bathroom or something, no big deal. tao and kris walk in with a cup of water.
